mantis

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various predatory insects of the family Mantidae, primarily tropical but including a few Temperate Zone species, usually pale green and having two pairs of walking legs and powerful grasping forelimbs. The mantis feeds on live insects, including others of its own kind. Also called mantid.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The typical genus of Mantidæ, formerly the same as the family, now much restricted. They are natives chiefly of tropical regions, but some species are common in temperate latitudes.
2. n. [lowercase; pl. mantes (-tēz).] Any species of the family Mantidæ; a rear-horse. The common rearhorse or praying-mantis of the United States is Phasmomantis carolina.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of various large insects of the order Mantodea that catch insects or other small animals with their powerful forelegs.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of voracious orthopterous insects of the genus Mantis, and allied genera. They are predacious long-bodied large-eyed insects of warm regions, are remarkable for their slender grotesque forms, and for holding their stout anterior legs in a manner suggesting hands folded in prayer. The common American species is Mantis Carolina.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. predacious long-bodied large-eyed insect of warm regions; rests with forelimbs raised as in prayer